Hello from Texas

[jrh870t]

Bought my 1st 870 Express Tactical over Thanksgiving weekend. It was already assembled, last one in the rack. I have noticed that there is a scratch on the bottom of the magtube near the receiver and on the top near the barrel end. It looks like something is rubbing whenever the slide is racked. Disassembled, made sure nothing in the fore end that could make this scratch. Any ideas on what else I should check?
Very excited about this new shotgun and this is just a minor issue, I hope.
Thanks...

[Synchronizor]

Wear on the magazine tube is normal. Inside the fore-end tube are a series of slightly-raised dimples, which is what the fore-end assembly rides on as it moves back and forth on the magazine tube. This is what causes the thin, straight wear marks in the mag tube's finish. As your gun gets more use, you'll also start seeing more general finish wear in larger patches. Some really heavily-used law enforcement or range 870s have nearly naked magazine tubes.

Yeah, I know the lighting sucks

magazine tube wear.JPG (52.97 KiB) Viewed 3271 times

If your mag tube looks anything like mine, it's normal wear, not something you really need to worry about. If you end up putting enough rounds through your 870 to wear a large portion of the tube down to the metal, you can always have it refinished. But in the meantime, just wipe some oil onto the magazine tube whenever you have the gun taken apart for cleaning, and you should be fine.

[jrh870t]

Thanks. The wear near the barrel looks ok, but the wear near the receiver is a scratch rather than a rub mark, I think. Here is what it looks like:

[DaveC]

Howdy from Santone!

My 870 was a low-cost, budget model Rem. Express. The parkerizing has not stood up to repeated and ongoing "tactical reload" drills with snap caps at home and with shells at the range or during defensive classes. Looks all scratched up and whatnot, but is still entirely functional. The mag tube shows a bit of wear too, but not nearly as much as the right side of the receiver. Look at the scratches as a low-cost "action job!"

[jrh870t]

Thanks everyone for the comments and insight. I am looking forward to using this shotgun for many years.
Blessings.

[Synchronizor]

My 870 was a low-cost, budget model Rem. Express. The parkerizing has not stood up to repeated and ongoing "tactical reload" drills with snap caps at home and with shells at the range or during defensive classes. Looks all scratched up and whatnot, but is still entirely functional. The mag tube shows a bit of wear too, but not nearly as much as the right side of the receiver. Look at the scratches as a low-cost "action job!"

Expresses have a matte iron oxide finish, which is not the same thing as Parkerizing. DaveC makes a good point, however, in that the wear you're seeing is a positive thing. 870s aren't the carefully hand-fitted pieces of days past; their parts are engineered and manufactured so that they can be assembled right off the line without any finessing. This saves money and assures parts interchangeability and product consistency, but it does come at the expense of a few rough corners here and there in new guns. However, the 870's simple design allows the action to wear in with use; any rough areas that interfere with operation eventually get worn down until everything runs like silk, and the gun is no less durable or reliable for it thanks to its robust steel construction.

Many folks insist that older 870s were better-built than current ones, citing how rough new 870s feel in gun shops. But it's not that those older guns were built differently, they've just been smoothed out and slicked-up by decades of use. If you keep shooting your 870, it'll run better and better, and eventually get just as smooth as any Wingmaster.